THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With the inter-state private buses in the state under the scanner of the Motor Vehicle Department (MVD), the Transport Minister and other officials are mulling the option of tackling the issue by providing more secure state transport facilities to the public.
The private buses are being targeted in the backdrop of the recent attack on passengers in a Kallada Travels bus. The Minister also told Express the department may form a separate monitoring cell to track the operation of inter-state buses.
The State Transport Department had discussed various options in the meeting convened by the Minister with the Transport Secretary, commissioner and the KSRTC MD on Friday and Saturday. “In the meeting, it was also suggested to form a separate monitoring cell in the department to supervise the long-distance inter-state buses,” said Transport Minister A K Saseendran. Another major option mooted increasing the number of inter-state public transport services. “The government is looking at all possible remedies to resolve the woes of the passengers as early as possible. The secretary and MD will hold talks with the Karnataka transport department officials in order to increase the number of KSRTC services on their routes. As of now, we are not planning any new routes. Instead, we are only trying to increase services in the existing routes,” said the Minister.
He also pointed out it is due to the intervention of the Transport Secretary with the Railway board that they have agreed to increase the weekly train services to Bengaluru.
KSRTC summer service
Meanwhile, KSRTC buses are getting more bookings and have also commenced its summer services to Bengaluru. KSRTC executive director Sharaf Mohammed said the increase in booking is due to the vacation period or because of the recent incident. Currently, there are 48 inter-state KSRTC schedules operating. And, as part of summer special service, the corporation has introduced six new services.